“Synchronicity” means things that happen at the same time but have no clear relationship to each other. While I’d been working on this month’s column, I heard from Nathasha asking that “memories” be the general topic for the coming issue of Audacity. What I’d been writing about was the way …
A Journey Through Reading
The spoiler on this month’s column is this: it’s about some books I recently read and, well, loved. Perfect for Valentine’s Day, sort of. Being rather immobilized the last three months, I’ve been reading on a daily basis. I spend the mornings reading news stories. Afternoons, I write, and read …
My Health Cracks Me Up!
Where have I been, what day is it, and why do I have this silly- looking velcro and nylon brace on my leg? Maybe it has something to do with these interesting pills I’ve been taking… At the end of October, I took a fall and broke my right tibia …
Facing The Monsters
“Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.” – Bertrand Russell We live in fearful times. Besides the usual—everyday—fears of not being liked or getting old, we’re also afraid of being attacked …
Sundance
“You’re in denial!” — “I am not!” — “See, that proves it!” It’s been a rigorous month and I’m glad it’s over. I’m glad it happened the way it did. But it was intense. I got back from the Sundance on Tuesday afternoon. That night, I was in the ER …
A Lesson in Humility
We vacationed in the region of British Columbia called the west Kootenays. Geographically, it’s part of the Columbia River system, and is across the border from eastern Washington and northern Idaho. The Kootenays are a series of steep, narrow and winding north-south valleys, scooped and scoured out of granite mountains, …
Who Is Really Free?
Freedom is easy to talk about, easy to write about—but very difficult to live. Freedom. Fourth of July. Originally to celebrate the Declaration of Independence, our national freedom from England… When I think about freedom—I also think about its antithesis, slavery. Three things came to mind: “There’s no freedom without …
Necessary Getaway!
By the time this column goes on-line at Audacity, we hope to be in Vancouver, B.C. for a few days, and then over in eastern British Columbia for a week or so. It’s always restful to step outside the box and look in from outside. Perspective is nice. The Saturday …
The Awakening
I am, for reasons I’ll try to explain, anti-authoritarian. You know the bumper sticker, “Question Authority.” Authority offers systems: think, act, dress, eat, live, this way: everything will be OK if you do. My family offered one authority: follow our directions and you will turn out good. If you don’t, …